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CHAPTER X. 



INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING USES OF SHELLS. 



Composition of shells — Variety of forms and colours — ^Various economic uses 

 to which they are put — Extensive commerce in shells — Shell cameos — The 

 cowry shells — ^Their various lises^ as currency, for decoration, etc. — Shells 

 worn for personal ornament — Wampum or treaty belts of shells — Shells 

 as studies of design — British commerce in shells. 



Shells, from their variety of structure and colour, and 

 their singular beauty, have always formed a fruitful theme of 

 description for the writer and the poet. The works of most 

 of our best authors teem with lovely passages^ many of 

 which must occur to the memory of any general reader. 



' ' Their exquisite, fragile, and beautiful forms 

 Are nursed by the ocean and rocked by the storms. " 



By young and old, savage and civilized, shells are alike 

 admired and coveted, either for personal decoration, for the 

 cabinet of the collector and the naturalist, or as, simple 

 ornaments, in a room. 



The uses to which shells are applied are more extensive 

 than is, generally supposed. The trade is growing year by 

 year into greater importance ; and there is ample scope yet 

 for its extension with profit and advantage, alike to the 

 merchant and importer, to the manufacturer and vendor^ 

 and to the general public who are the purchasers.. 



